...
Show More
*The shadow consists of both positive and negative aspects of our psyches that we've designated as bad. It's difficult to own our negative qualities but it can be even more difficult to own our noble qualities. It is common to project those onto others, which is why our culture is obsessed with hero worship, and songs about falling in love. It can be as damaging to ignore the gold as it is to ignore the dark sides of the psyche.
*We have to hide much of our dark side from society in order for society to function, but we must never hide it from ourselves, because what we don't recognize we will unconsciously act out. This is the source of many neuroses, conflicts, and wars. It takes courage to face the shadow, but the alternative is likely, without exaggeration, the impending destruction of the world. One only need to take a brief look at the news to verify the truth of this. For this reason, Jung believed each individual must take his own inner work seriously- it is necessary to tilt the scales away from mass delusion and toward sanity. This requires an honest reckoning with the shadow and withdrawing our projections.
*"Fanaticism always indicates unconscious uncertainty not yet registering in consciousness." -pg. 9
*"No one can escape the dark side of life, but we can pay out that dark side intelligently." -pg. 15
*The shadow must be integrated in order to function as a whole person. Projection is always easier than assimilation. This involved carrying our own burdens and living up to our own potential.
*Creative people often have a greater accumulation of shadow material that they must find a way to intelligently pay out, or else suffer the consequences. This is probably why, in the documentary The Artist is Present, Marina Abramovic warned that an artist must never marry another artist.
*The dark side can be paid out ritually to dispel tension. The Catholic mass is a historic acknowledgment of this drama. In the Old Testament, a goat was designated to carry the sins of the people outside the camp. Failure to ritually acknowledge the shadow results in unconscious projections wherein individuals, and eventually society as a whole seeks a scapegoat for their own unacknowledged darkness.
*We must seek balance to integrate what we have ignored. In previous times the earthy elements of life were well trodden, and people were well in touch with the earth. They needed movement toward the abstract, higher dimensions of life. This was reflected in the cathedrals that pointed heavenward. Now we have lost connection with the earthy, feminine aspects of reality. We worship energy and ignore rest. We value strength and ignore peacemaking and gentleness. We need to balance out our obsession with climbing the ladder of power and move towards the earth (touch grass). We should balance the explosion of the accumulation of knowledge with movement towards application of that knowledge, a movement toward wisdom: Sophia.
*"...the only choice is whether we will incorporate the shadow consciously and with some dignity or do it through some neurotic behavior. George Bernard Shaw said that the only alternative to torture is art." -pg. 27
*"To refuse another's shadow, you don't fight back, but like a good matador you just let the bull go by." -pg. 36
*"William Blake spoke about the need to reconcile these two parts of the self. He said we should go to heaven for form and to hell for energy-and marry the two." -pg. 38
*"Today's hero is tomorrow's character." -pg. 42
*"It is much easier to admire a Dr. Schweitzer from afar than to be my own (lesser) version of those qualities." -pg. 46
"If you can touch your shadow-within form-and do something out of your ordinary pattern, a great deal of energy will flow from it." -pg. 47
*The middle way (the Tao) is not compromise but creative synthesis.
*"Most of our examples, however, will be drawn from the experience of seeing our own image of divinity in another human being. To make this examination all the more difficult, we have to say that the divinity we see in others is truly there, but we don't have the right to see it until we have taken away our own projections. How difficult! How can one say that the projection is not true but the divinity of one's beloved is? Making this fine differentiation is the most delicate and difficult task of life." -pg. 62
"While in-loveness is close proximity to God, love based on reality serves our humble condition far better." -pg. 63
"We will go to almost any length to avoid this painful paradox; but in that refusal we only confine ourselves to the useless experience of contradiction. Contradiction brings the crushing burden of meaninglessness. One can endure any suffering if it has meaning; but meaninglessness is unbearable. Contradiction is barren and destructive, yet paradox is creative." -pg. 75
"The mandorla is the place of poetry. It is the duty of a true poet to take the fragmented world that we find ourselves in and to make unity of it. In the Four Quartets, T.S. Eliot writes, "The fire and the rose are one." By overlapping the two elements of fire and a flower, he makes a mandorla. We are pleased to the depth of our soul to be told that the fire of transformation and the flower of rebirth are one and the same. All poetry is based upon the assertion that this is that. When the images overlap, we have a mystical statement of unity. We feel there is safety and sureness in our fractured world, and the poet has given us the gift of synthesis." -pg. 103
"I think I have won (or superceded) some very serious spiritual debates in my inner life by giving credence to both sides, until a superior point of view could be achieved." -pg. 115
*We have to hide much of our dark side from society in order for society to function, but we must never hide it from ourselves, because what we don't recognize we will unconsciously act out. This is the source of many neuroses, conflicts, and wars. It takes courage to face the shadow, but the alternative is likely, without exaggeration, the impending destruction of the world. One only need to take a brief look at the news to verify the truth of this. For this reason, Jung believed each individual must take his own inner work seriously- it is necessary to tilt the scales away from mass delusion and toward sanity. This requires an honest reckoning with the shadow and withdrawing our projections.
*"Fanaticism always indicates unconscious uncertainty not yet registering in consciousness." -pg. 9
*"No one can escape the dark side of life, but we can pay out that dark side intelligently." -pg. 15
*The shadow must be integrated in order to function as a whole person. Projection is always easier than assimilation. This involved carrying our own burdens and living up to our own potential.
*Creative people often have a greater accumulation of shadow material that they must find a way to intelligently pay out, or else suffer the consequences. This is probably why, in the documentary The Artist is Present, Marina Abramovic warned that an artist must never marry another artist.
*The dark side can be paid out ritually to dispel tension. The Catholic mass is a historic acknowledgment of this drama. In the Old Testament, a goat was designated to carry the sins of the people outside the camp. Failure to ritually acknowledge the shadow results in unconscious projections wherein individuals, and eventually society as a whole seeks a scapegoat for their own unacknowledged darkness.
*We must seek balance to integrate what we have ignored. In previous times the earthy elements of life were well trodden, and people were well in touch with the earth. They needed movement toward the abstract, higher dimensions of life. This was reflected in the cathedrals that pointed heavenward. Now we have lost connection with the earthy, feminine aspects of reality. We worship energy and ignore rest. We value strength and ignore peacemaking and gentleness. We need to balance out our obsession with climbing the ladder of power and move towards the earth (touch grass). We should balance the explosion of the accumulation of knowledge with movement towards application of that knowledge, a movement toward wisdom: Sophia.
*"...the only choice is whether we will incorporate the shadow consciously and with some dignity or do it through some neurotic behavior. George Bernard Shaw said that the only alternative to torture is art." -pg. 27
*"To refuse another's shadow, you don't fight back, but like a good matador you just let the bull go by." -pg. 36
*"William Blake spoke about the need to reconcile these two parts of the self. He said we should go to heaven for form and to hell for energy-and marry the two." -pg. 38
*"Today's hero is tomorrow's character." -pg. 42
*"It is much easier to admire a Dr. Schweitzer from afar than to be my own (lesser) version of those qualities." -pg. 46
"If you can touch your shadow-within form-and do something out of your ordinary pattern, a great deal of energy will flow from it." -pg. 47
*The middle way (the Tao) is not compromise but creative synthesis.
*"Most of our examples, however, will be drawn from the experience of seeing our own image of divinity in another human being. To make this examination all the more difficult, we have to say that the divinity we see in others is truly there, but we don't have the right to see it until we have taken away our own projections. How difficult! How can one say that the projection is not true but the divinity of one's beloved is? Making this fine differentiation is the most delicate and difficult task of life." -pg. 62
"While in-loveness is close proximity to God, love based on reality serves our humble condition far better." -pg. 63
"We will go to almost any length to avoid this painful paradox; but in that refusal we only confine ourselves to the useless experience of contradiction. Contradiction brings the crushing burden of meaninglessness. One can endure any suffering if it has meaning; but meaninglessness is unbearable. Contradiction is barren and destructive, yet paradox is creative." -pg. 75
"The mandorla is the place of poetry. It is the duty of a true poet to take the fragmented world that we find ourselves in and to make unity of it. In the Four Quartets, T.S. Eliot writes, "The fire and the rose are one." By overlapping the two elements of fire and a flower, he makes a mandorla. We are pleased to the depth of our soul to be told that the fire of transformation and the flower of rebirth are one and the same. All poetry is based upon the assertion that this is that. When the images overlap, we have a mystical statement of unity. We feel there is safety and sureness in our fractured world, and the poet has given us the gift of synthesis." -pg. 103
"I think I have won (or superceded) some very serious spiritual debates in my inner life by giving credence to both sides, until a superior point of view could be achieved." -pg. 115
